Lisa Wennerth, welcomes four trailblazing educators, whose article “Why There Isn’t One ‘Right Way’ to Practice Ungrading” posits ungrading as a fundamentally open, welcoming, and responsive practice for all—not just the elite few.

Achieving a student-centered instructional model may be challenging. Miriam Plotinsky, author of the book Hover-Free Teaching, offers ways that teachers can foster a culture of shared responsibility for learning.

We know our students thrive in cultures that welcome, affirm, and challenge them. Lisa Wennerth explains why we need to also model this understanding by creating prosperous professional communities among our colleagues and peers. 

Today, here, alone in my classroom, empty of kids, my anxiety creeps into the void.

Receiving a grade and comment does little to move the learning forward. David Rockower shows us how we can drop the letter grade and instead facilitate feedback and student reflection.

Eric is a principal at Hall Middle School in Larkspur, CA. Eric is the co-founder of Global School Play Day which is dedicated to promoting the idea that kids learn more when they play.

I stepped into the gradeless classroom waters because of my own stress and anxiety. I was spending too much time at home on schoolwork when I should have been bonding with my family and friends or caring for myself.

For an authentic PBL experience, students must be free to experiment, experience failure, and learn from their mistakes. Otherwise, I’m just teaching them to look to me for answers, which is the opposite of what I want to accomplish.

Students need the comfort and stability of knowing that they can fail at something significant and someone will always be there to support and encourage them. Deanna Lough shares how a shift to authentic assessment has fostered better writing—and a real sense of community and joy.

As a teacher/activist, Julia Torres's work is grounded in empowering students to use the Language Arts to fuel resistance and positive social transformation.

Taking away grades signals a fundamental change in the power dynamics of a classroom, and students need to be supported in order to thrive.

I am a teacher. I am a room. I am a space to fill. I am a culture to create. I am a world to shape.We are teachers. We are rooms. We are spaces to fill. We are cultures to create. We are worlds to shape.